Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 22 250 Federal Premium. 55 grain Partition?

Hey Guys,

I was talking to a fellow today that claims he has boxes of Federal Premium 55 grain Nosler Partitions. I have never heard of such a thing. I have loaded tons of 60 grain partitions in my 223 and 22 250 and seen some 60 grain partition factory loads but never a 55 grain partition.

Does a 55 grain partition exist?

Thanks

Colin

Colin,

I've never seen any, but who knows? I suspect, however, that the bullets are some other 55-grain. The Solid Bases look a lot like Partitions when seated, and Nosler made a few runs for Federal not all that long ago.

My experience is the .224" Solid Bases were pretty good big game bullets!

John,

I didn't know the solid base was produced at all anymore.

What does federal call them when loaded?

My dad and his hunting pards still talk about how great the 60 grain solid base was. they used them for everything from deer on down

Solid Bases aren't being produced anymore. It was a relatively brief rebirth, maybe 3-4 years ago, and as I recall only for Federal.

I see,

Did federal advertise them as nosler solid bases at the time or sell them as generic softpoints?

As I recall they were listed as Nosler Solid Bases.

He probably has 55 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claws. They used to load those.

I still have a box of .223 and .22-250 of the TBBC wish they still made those.

DakotaDeer,

That's probably it. I've noticed over the years that a lot of non-loony hunters don't know the difference between various bullets, even when they think they do.

Have also encountered people convinced their father hunted with a Remington Model 70. and known many people who could never tell the difference between Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and Sports Afield, even after a couple of those magazines tried to "go green" back in the 1990's, publishing articles about mountain biking, trail running and kayaking. (Hint: Field & Stream never did.)

Was even at a sports show, hanging out at the booth of another writer, and some guy walked up to him and said he had a "bone to pick" over the last column my friend had written for Sports Afield. My friend said he'd never published ANYTHING in Sports Afield, whereupon the nitwit said, very agreessively, "Yes, you have, and I can prove it."

My friend took a $100 bill from his wallet and tore in half, offering one half to the nitwit, saying, "Take this, and when you find that copy of Sports Afield bring it here. I'll give you the other half." Of course, the guy just stomped off.

I was on a deer hunt in Arkansas when Federal introduced those Trophy Bonded loads, and one of the other guys shot a good buck with it, using his .220 Swift.

JB,

You think Speer will ever offer the TBBC as a component again?

Never shot the first one of them, but I'd bet those would be pretty slick in the 22 CF's.

Our little deer here in Va don't need much more than that.

I doubt it. My impression is that their marketing department isn't the most effective in the business right now, for whatever reason. They couldn't follow through on DeepCurls, which supposedly were going to replace Hot-Cors, so I doubt they're going to offer Trophy Bondeds as components again.

Pretty sad the TBBC is a great bullet loved it out of the .223 and .22-250. Would like to see a 80gr TBBC for my .243AI.

The lightest Trophy Bonded Bear Claw Federal loads now and going back to 2009 is 175 grains and the smallest diameter is 0.284 inches. In 2008 and before Federal loaded a 140 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. Hard to believe anyone could confuse such a bullet for a 55 grain anything.

My guess would be Federal's proprietary 55 grain Soft Point. It's an exposed lead tip like the Nosler Partition with a similar shape.

The plus for them in a .22-250 is they stabilize in a 1-14" twist, however, they're kind of explosive at .22-250 speeds. They make the crater of a varmint bullet only they keep on penetrating.

I think they'd work best in a .222 or .223.

Tom

Layne Simpson if my memory serves...

Yep!

A most polite way to put it, IMHO.

Ummm...TBBC came in smaller calibers and lighter weights also.

Federal sells the TBBC in 223 in their Law Enforcement product line.

Here are some of the 62 gr tbbc's from pull downs.

http://www.shop.rmrbullets.com/223-...ar-Claw-500-count-223-TBBC-62-500-Ct.htm